“RESURRECTION AFTER 1500 YEARS” Press Release 15/08/23

Clyde (Dumfries & Galloway) Community Fund, administered by Foundation Scotland have announced a £10,000 grant to the Arthur Trail Association which together with grants from the Minnygap Community Fund and Annandale and Nithsdale Community Benefit Company completes a total budget of £30,000 for a feasibility study for a multi-million pound Dark Age Centre at Beattock and Moffat.

The period from the departure of the Romans to the coming of St Columba merits little more than two or three pages of our history books, and is skipped over in school’s education. The recently republished Oxford History of Britain dismisses “the turbulent, fractured, schizophrenic history of the Celtic nations” as “little more than a myth fit for the refuse heap of history”. The centre plans to counter this Anglo-Saxon academic arrogance with a more enlightened approach which combines historical, archaeological and social anthropological techniques to throw some light into the darkness by exploring both the tangible and intangible cultural elements of a lost lore.

The proposed centre will be sited to attract traffic off the M74 for an immersive experience using next generation technology. It will reveal a forgotten heritage of one of the most dramatic and dynamic times of our history when the elements which formed Scotland were beginning to come together. Satellite developments in small rural communities with distinctive themes north and south of the centre will attract visitors deeper into the hinterland communities and these are planned to be the subject of a separate study next year.

The facility will be unique – a must-see attraction for a pan-generational, international audience of about 200,000 visitors a year. Visit Scotland figure indicate that this would produce a visitor spend in the area of over £26 million per annum. World-wide fascination with of Merlin is the interpretive theme. He was a real man, one of the last of the great druids who resisted the coming of Christianity and lived and died for his beliefs in the Solway/Annandale area in the late 6th century. Apart from the economic benefits, the project will create jobs, provide specialist training and help to develop existing businesses and create new ones. It is intended to be a not-for-profit charitable operation with an important element of local community participation in its operation, with profits being ploughed back into further research and development in local communities. The feasibility team is being led by heritage consultant Rob Robinson, Designer/Architect Ben Tyndall, and Producer/Director Robin Crichton. The will be supported by a steering group representing community know-how and stakeholder interests.

Robin Crichton said: “This is an off-the-wall approach; an immersive time travel back to a lost world. Tourism has been in steady decline for decades as traffic rushes past to the Central Belt and the Highlands. Currently only 2% of visitors are from overseas. This study will examine and assess the potential of attracting visitors to discover a beautiful but unknown area currently off the international map. It will not be more of the same and our funders are to be congratulated on their vision. It is local community-based but international in outlook.

Further information crichton.efp@gmail.com Tel: 01896 831188

Funded by: Annandale and Nithsdale Community Benefit Fund, Clyde Wind Farm and SSE Renewables, & Minnygap Community Fund, administered by Foundation Scotland